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Kenyan oil marketing giant, Hass Petroleum Group, has sold 40 percent of its stakes to Oman Trading International (OTI), a global trading company owned by the Government of Oman, according to a report by Fuel and Lube Asia. The move, according to F+L Asia , is to enable the Kenyan oil marketing giant embark on its strategic growth and expansion plans across the Eastern, Central and Horn of Africa.
F+L Asia listed brokers of the deal as Standard Advisory London Limited, a member of the Standard Bank Group which is acting as exclusive financial advisors to OTI and KPMG Advisory Services Ltd Kenya, acting as exclusive financial advisors to Hass.
The report said Hass Petroleum Group intends to spend the proceeds of the divestment to enhance its market visibility by acquiring more distribution assets, especially service stations across its key markets in the region. On the other hand, Hass is to also boost its working capital and increase competitiveness in the Open Tender System, the report added, stressing that OTI, which delivers more than 20 million tonnes of energy products per year, with offices in Europe, the Middle East, U.S. and Asia, will provide its supply and trading capabilities to strengthen the Hass service offering, enhance services to consumers and contribute to economic growth across the region.
The report, however, noted that Hass founder and management team will continue to operate the business and work closely with OTI to grow and continue long-standing relationships with customers, suppliers and regulators even as it maintained that the acquisition is in line with OTI’s long-term strategic priority of accelerating its growth by entering new emerging markets with high potential, which perfectly fits into Hass’ aspiration of being Africa’s leading oil marketing company.
Though the completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities in the various countries where Hass operates, chairman and founder of Hass, Abdinasir Ali Hassan, was quoted as saying: “I am convinced that this partnership is a major step in ensuring Hass’ continued competitiveness across the region and I am confident that with OTI, we can achieve our mutual long-term growth aspirations.” The CEO of OTI, Talal Hamid Al-Awfi, was also quoted as saying: “Hass is a unique business with substantial scale and growth potential where we have enjoyed a long-standing relationship; most importantly we share a common understanding and vision of the African energy market.”
